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Global Perspectives on Independent Living for the New Millennium
An International Summit Conference on Independent Living
Approximately 125 leaders in the international disability advocacy movement known as Independent Living met in Washington, D.C., September 21-25 to formulate new strategies for the 21st century. The delegates, representing 50 diverse countries based on all continents, were invited in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments in improving life for disabled citizens. The International Summit, with strong delegations from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Arab nations and the Americas, adopted The Washington Declaration, a strategy to promote and implement the independent living movement worldwide.
The Declaration underlines the principles of the independent living movement, founded in the 1970s by visionary disabled leaders who recast their struggle for full citizenship in a human and civil rights context. Summit participants agreed that the basic principles of the Independent Living Philosophy are ãhuman rights, self-determination, self-help, peer support, empowerment, community inclusion, cross-disability inclusion, risk-taking and inclusion.ä
Recognizing that in each society there is a cluster of interrelated conditions and services that together can substantially improve life for people with disabilities, participants committed themselves to an action plan ãto promote comprehensive disability rights legislation in each country in order to create a worldwide environment to foster independent living, inclusive education, accessible and affordable housing, transportation, health care, personal assistance services, a barrier free environment, accessible communication, and assistive technology incorporating universal design features.ä
The Summit convener, Judy Heumann, Assistant Secretary for Education and independent living pioneer, was particularly impressed with the numerous new leaders from developing countries. She pointed out that to promote the IL philosophy in these areas would be the next major challenge for the movement.
Partnerships
Participants also noted that the most significant progress benefiting people with disabilities around the world had been achieved through strategic partnerships. In the Declaration, they identified partnerships that must now be created, with governments, development agencies and overseas development assistance programs, especially to introduce the independent living approach to countries where it is not yet widely known.
As an example, the Summit was developed by an international committee of IL experts and supported by the U.S. Departments of Education, State, Social Security, Agriculture and Transportation.
Other important partnerships designated included international disability organizations that can further educate their diverse memberships, and universities that can help to educate the next generation about disability rights, and research and evaluate progress through their newly developing disability studies programs.
Areas for Collaboration
In addition to agreeing to hold future international conferences on a regular basis, participants decided to establish working groups on specific aspects of the International Independent Living Movement, including ãdefinitions of IL, IL philosophy, peer support, personal assistance services, advocacy and increasing the cross-disability focus of independent living.ä
Final Report Web Site
The Conference Final report includes a range of interesting reports and research.Ê It can be viewed on the World Wide Web at: http://www.ilru.org/summit/. Conference sessions looking at IL philosophy, leadership issues, advocacy, employment, and independent living services in an international perspective were recorded and analyzed.Ê In addition, 11 country portraits were created, profiling some of the unique aspects of independent living in Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Nicaragua, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Uganda, the United States and Vietnam.
Another result from the conference is the International Independent Living Timeline, which was based on a review of independent living literature and research conducted prior to the conference by Anne Finger. Finger's work was supplemented by contributions of many of the disability leaders who participated in the Independent Living Summit and by Rehabilitation International and the World Institute on Disability staff. This timeline includes 272 country-specific, regional and international entries from 53 countries, spanning from the mid eighteenth century through the year 2000.Ê The timeline is accompanied by an informal analysis designed to draw attention to two phenomena:Ê 1) a pattern of development which suggests precursors or prerequisites to an identifiable independent living movement in the various countries; and 2) certain clusters of activities which illustrate the influence of external political events and/or the growing international and regional collaboration within the international independent living movement.
Finally, the Summit report includes an international discussion paper on definitions of independent living, prepared by Tanis Doe, Ph. D.
Conference Program
The program was developed by an international committee chaired by Lex Frieden of ILRU--the Independent Living Research Utilization program, with support from Disabled People's International, Rehabilitation International, the World Institute on Disability, the Inter-American Institute on Disability and the U.S. National Council on Independent Living.